USS STURGEON SSN-637

• Namesake: USS Sturgeon (SSN-637) was named after the sturgeon fish, a tradition of naming submarines after fish and sea creatures. • Lead Ship: She was the lead ship of her class, the Sturgeon-class, a group of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines serving during the Cold War. • Commissioning: USS Sturgeon was commissioned on 3 March 1967 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine. • Cold War Service: The submarine played a crucial role in Cold War surveillance and intelligence-gathering missions, often operating in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. • Notable Missions: She participated in several classified operations, including special intelligence missions and trailing Soviet submarines. • Arctic Operations: Sturgeon conducted at least three under-ice operations, surfacing at the North Pole in 1969 and earning her crew the Arctic Service Ribbon. • Collision Incident: In 1973, she collided with the USS Wahoo (SS-565) during exercises, but both submarines survived with minor damage. • Humanitarian Assistance: In 1986, Sturgeon aided in the rescue of the crew of a sinking fishing vessel off the New England coast. • Decommissioning: After nearly 27 years of service, USS Sturgeon was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 August 1994. • Recycling: Her scrapping was completed in 1995 under the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington.